Flame
by Satan Abraham
Summary: The forest was burning. The hunt was on. Roger was all alone. A hunt for Ralph turns into a fight to get out of the burning trees. Oneshot.


'**I'm not going to write any more fanfiction until I'm done with my final projects and school is out!'**

**I finished Computers and Health, so here you go. It's Roger. If it's going to be any pairing, it's Roger x Eric… maybe slight Roger x Maurice… some Roger x Jack at the end. **

**Wow, I'm a hypocrite. 'Why's there so much Roger x Eric? I don't understaaaand.' **

**But, whatever. On with the story! **

* * *

The smoke. The heat. The creepers, the hunt, the adrenaline. Roger could feel his heart – or something like that, he wasn't completely sure – beating against his skull. He was alone, as far as he could tell. He could hear the signal all around him and he gripped the rough wood of his spear harder.

Where was Jack?

He could leave Jack for later. He needed to find Ralph; find Ralph and kill him. Kill him like he'd killed Simon, and Piggy. Bash 'm in with a rock, beat a barely sharpened stick into his skin.

Smoke entered his lungs and he coughed, doubling over and jamming his spear into the ground for support. Something moved and Roger's spear was up again, forcing the figure back. He glared through watering eyes, feeling the spear pierce flesh and a familiar cry of pain.

It was one of the twins. Roger faced the boy completely, withdrawing his spear. The boy looked at him, wide-eyed and scared. "R-roger…"

"Where's the other one? Aren't there usually two of you?"

The boy dissolved into tears, falling to his knees. Roger just looked at him, more than a little freaked out. Falling apart after ten simple words.

The crackling of flames brought him to his senses. They couldn't stay standing there, they'd burn up alive. Roger grabbed the boy by the arm and towed him through the trees, meeting up with Maurice.

"Any sign of Ralph?" Roger yelled over the forest crashing down around them. Maurice shook his head, face pale and beaded with sweat. "Jack?"

Maurice's reply was cut off by another signal, this one nearby. Any polite conversation was forgotten and the two plus Samoreric raced toward the noise, Maurice in the lead, Roger and the twin lagging behind a little. The flames captured a tree near them and Roger shoved the twin away, watching as the tree cut them off from Maurice.

"Maurice!" Roger yelled, searching the smoke. He heard coughing.

"I'm okay!" was the reply. "I'm gonna get out of here!"

Roger glanced at the cowering, dirty twin and sighed. That would probably be the best thing to do. "Get-" more coughing. "Get up."

The twin didn't move. Roger stooped over and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him through the burned trees and ashes, ignoring the smoke that was forever attacking their mouths and eyes. He focused through watering eyes on the clearest path, the path with the least flames. He could hear Samoreric sobbing and coughing and choking behind him, but he pressed on, clutching the boy's wrist with thin, bony fingers.

"The beach!"

Roger looked around. Samoreric was pointing to probably the most firelaced part of the island. "Are you stupid?"

"No! It's that way! That's where everyone went, I'm sure!" Roger marveled at the boy's ability to talk so much in this smoke without dying.

Samoreric took the lead now, pulling Roger through the flames. Roger followed him, as much as he wanted to find Jack, or Maurice, or kill that damn Ralph. But the grip had switched, instead of Roger's fingernails digging into Samoreric's wrist their hands were clutching each others, connecting them, making sure they didn't lose each other in the flames.

Samoreric had been right. A few burns, coughing fits, and watery eyes later, they were in sight of the beach. They pushed their way through the rest of the flames, ignoring the searing pain that came with it.

As soon as he was in sight of his twin, Samoreric dropped Roger's hand and screamed "Sam!" at the top of his lungs. The brothers reunited as Roger collapsed into the sand, coughing.

That was an adult voice speaking. Roger lifted his head and wiped his eyes clear to see a man, a man and a ship. They'd been rescued. There was going to be no more fun. He was going to be trapped in the cage of society once more. In addition to this, he'd killed somebody. Ralph wasn't going to let that go.

This and the pain of his burns hit him all at once and his eyes filled with tears. One of the men walked over to him and lifted him to his feet. "You alright?"

Roger swallowed and nodded, searching the crowd of boys for one he knew; well, one he liked. Jack was… Jack was a little bit away, near the head of the group of savages. Ralph was talking to another man, Samneric were still clutching each other. Maurice was nowhere to be seen.

Roger stumbled toward Jack, muscles shrieking in protest. He didn't quite make it, tripping and falling a little way away from him. A pair of sunburned arms caught him.

Roger looked up into the painted, sunburned face of Jack Merridew. "We have to go home."

Jack nodded, biting his lip. "It's been fun, though."

Yeah. It had been fun.

* * *

**Yay! Happy! Except Maurice was never seen again! And neither was Bill. Because Bill is… Bill. But everyone else was fine and rescued and they returned to their mostly dead families because of bombing and lived happily ever after. **

**Except not really. **

**But, whatever. x3 **

**By the way, if you'e on Tumblr, there's this really awesome person in the Lord of the Flies fandom, pretty much the king of the fandom. Lieutenant-roger is one of the blogs… and then he's got an 'Ask Roger' blog, too. **

**AMAZING DRAWER. **

**AurorA.**


End file.
